A big match tonight, but all matches are going to be big from now on. You might even say that all matches are must win. Okay, tonight might be 'must draw' to leave the relegation zone, but you know what I mean.

And, thinking like that might not be very nice, but that is the way we have to think. It would be nice to think we can go out to win, but we've got to get the points we can get from now on and if we get a draw, we have to be happy.

When opportunity presents

And tonight is an opportunity. Sure, Manchester City will say publicly that they believe they've got a chance to catch Manchester United, but they don't and we know that and they know that too, but they have to say certain things.

And that help. We are desperate for the three points and they're not. They know they've blown it this season and with that opportunity, we might be able to take advantage. But, it's going to be massive for us to get something tonight and we have to be happy if we can.

And it might very well all come down to one point and if it just so happens we get that tonight, then that is all that matters. If we get more, then we should be ecstatic. If we get more, we shouldn't believe, we should just be happy that we've managed to move forward.

Stats from the BBC

Aston Villa have won just one of their last 10 league matches

Only QPR have scored fewer goals than Villa in this season's Premier League

Villa have not won any of the 13 league matches this season when they've conceded the opening goal (D2, L11)

They have lost all nine league matches this season in which they have trailed at half-time

Darren Bent has scored seven Premier League goals against Manchester City

Updates and team news

So, with that written, we await team news and the match. I'm not predicting, because my head says one thing and my heart says something else, but I know the optimism will rise later and I'll think something else, so it is probably best I leave that.

Author: Damian

Damian started The Villa Blog as a passion project quite a few years ago while he was living in South Africa. Now living in Sweden, it continues. He's originally from Chasetown and grew up when supporting Villa meant there was a real chance of silverware at the start of every season.

Comments (511)

Guest - expat007

jcv

thats local and national rivalry.some clubs we can watch and others not.

Sorry Mate if I had gone through life like that I would have missed some wonderful times watching football.
You are telling me you never enjoyed watching great players for other English clubs, that's hard to believe!
I so many fond memories of seeing the likes of Matthews, Finney, John Charles, Jimmy Grieves, Bobby Moore, George Best, Trevor Francis, Gascoigne, Keegan, Cantona, Drogba, Henry, etc, etc.
I have always wanted The Villa to win, but that has never stopped me appreciating the flair and ability of great footballers.
I trust that I will never be that fanatical about The Villa that I am too blinded to appreciate great footballers.
I know it's hard now following The Villa, maybe when we were a top club you were more tolerant?

Yet another "must win" game is nearly upon us - lets hope this one we actually do win. Most clubs have one maybe two must win games a season we seem to have had half a dozen already with I am sure more to come.

I've decided I've changed my mind about Nani's red card. Agreeing with those who said it was a straight red. My head has been turned - there's no going back.

Fergie scrambling out of his seat. I could have watched that all day.

While it was very funny to see fergie furious like that, it was never a red card, just more bias towards the spanish teams that fifa love so much, like the RVP sending off for arsenal against barca the other season

I'm not confident in the slightest for the next 2 games, Delph out means we may have to rely on an unproven french league 2 player and on his debut he looked well of pace but yet we need to hope if he plays that he turns out like a Viera or Keane type, Going forward against City I thought we looked clueless in final 3rd, We had no imagination to even try and open them up and it's something that has been happening all season, If we got 6 points from next 2, I would be over the moon, If we got zero it would not surprise me at all

City have the best defense in the league, it will be much much easier to score against reading and QPR, we will defo score at least once, will we be able to keep a clean sheet is the question?

Fact, we have not won back to back games this season, that includes playing all the teams around us.
Can anyone explain to me why we are suddenly going to do that, this is a genuine question as i would be interested to find out as to why other fans are thinking this way.
Please dont just say you can see improvements as i am sick of hearing that trotted out after yet another defeat, that doesn't put points on the board and right now we need points desperately.
On the Man City game some were saying our passing was the best they had seen all season, well yes, our passing sideways and backwards was impressive but, as soon as we got in the final third of the pitch we were clueless as they closed us down and stopped us playing with some ease. You only need to look at how many chances we created, or didn't as the case was.
Sorry if i seem negative but, in reality we are unlikely to win both these games if any.

Take the game to them, Reading are the team that have been conceding lots of goals of late, we have conceded fewer, ok lost but not been conceding as many. That would be my philosophy moving into this next game

Weve been playing this for a while now, and i do think we look better than the 352 we played, which while we had some of our worst performances playing that, we also went 6 games unbeaten playing it including the wins away to norwich and liverpool.

Fact, we have not won back to back games this season, that includes playing all the teams around us.
Can anyone explain to me why we are suddenly going to do that, this is a genuine question as i would be interested to find out as to why other fans are thinking this way.
Please dont just say you can see improvements as i am sick of hearing that trotted out after yet another defeat, that doesn't put points on the board and right now we need points desperately.
On the Man City game some were saying our passing was the best they had seen all season, well yes, our passing sideways and backwards was impressive but, as soon as we got in the final third of the pitch we were clueless as they closed us down and stopped us playing with some ease. You only need to look at how many chances we created, or didn't as the case was.
Sorry if i seem negative but, in reality we are unlikely to win both these games if any

Your not wrong in anything your saying, but we are playing the only two teams that are below us in the league, and if the league doesnt lie, then we are at least better than those two teams.

to be honest ive thought our passing has looked pretty slick most of the season, the trouble is we dont have the players to deliver the final ball in the team, we have 2 holding midfielders who its their job to hold so thats ok, we have zoggy whos job it is is to create, however he just dribbles til he can shoot or gets tackled, we then have two wingers/forwards in gabby and weinmann who arent the best at creating because they are both strikers and want to get in the box to score, thus why we are lacking in creating, against the top half teams.

muz1: that is the bottom line you are correct. For me put our best strikers on and get the ball to them as often as we can, does not have to be pretty anymore our situation is dire and we need to score to give ourselves the best chance of survival, I would be happy with 10 draws, how we survive matters not, its all about survival.

While it was very funny to see fergie furious like that, it was never a red card, just more bias towards the spanish teams that fifa love so much, like the RVP sending off for arsenal against barca the other season

I spoke to a few refs. The consensus was that the only grey area can be the interpretation of Nani's intent. However, studs up is dangerous play whichever way you look at it and that's always potentially a red card offence.

I take that to mean that the ref legitimately had a cause to send Nani off. Whether he did so or not was open to his interpretation. Hence me changing my mind - I would have been pissed off if it was a Villa player though.

correct about the league table doesnt lie,ive used that fact all season.
but it still doesnt guarantee 6 points against reading and qpr.
as someone pointed out the other day,over the last ten games,we have the lowest tally of points out of all the bottom sides

Nothing is guarnteed in football, i was only answering the question of why people think we will win, i was simply answering why i think most people think we will win.

To give Deplh some credit he has looked better the last couple of games I have seen him. I think you see how poor he is though when you see him play live at the game rather than the tv. His positional play is not good and he seems to bottle out if given a scoring opportunity.

all strikers miss some, RVP missed an open goal the other week. At the end of the day if your entering march and your top 2 strikers have 25 goals between them, then its not the strikers who are your problem.

As for Bent, I don't think he would have matched Benteke's goal tally this season playing in the team we have currently. I'd agree that however, that Bent and Benteke should have played more games together this season.

Lambert gave them one game early on (Soton) didn't he - and then went off in a huff about it.

I spoke to a few refs. The consensus was that the only grey area can be the interpretation of Nani's intent. However, studs up is dangerous play whichever way you look at it and that's always potentially a red card offence

My position is that any one who thinks Nani's red was a sending off has either never played football or has a different motive (like roy keane not wanting anyone to do better than he did and how a bitter physco he is)

Because if you do think its a red, you have to be consistant, their was a cross/corner in the first half where vidic beat the GK to the ball, now he headed the ball over the bar, but the goalkeeper punched him in the head? and vidic required lengthy treatment, tell me how that is any different to what Nani did, when the ball is coming over your shoulder and is up in the air, that is exactly how you controll the ball, it is the mist obvious thing in the world that all he was doing was trying to controll the ball, and if there was no player around, would it of been called high foot? i doubt it, so if its ok to do that and theres no players around, why isit a sending off if you catch a player?

Going back to my example of the GK, why are overhead kicks allowed arent they dangerous? i remeber John Terry getting kicked in the head when someone was attempting an over head, he didnt get a red?

And yes all managers back their own team and are bias, Man U have bullied refs in the last 20 years so i have no problem with anyone laughing at Man utd, but i cant see how anyone with a serious face can say that it was a genuine Red card, i personally think it would be a harsh yellow, likewise the GK never got a a yellow for punching vidic in the side of the head.

Now the whole spansih thing, am most likely wrong, but i dont see too many favourable english decisions being made, i remember when chelsea got cheated out of a final against barca where they had about 4 stone wall penalties.... when RVP was sent off with arsenal beating barca, then there was the the red cards Jose has when he was manager of Inter again against Barca, and now this season with real madrid and Man utd, it seems that Fifa are determined to have spain rule europe and with Barca looking likely to go out, they decided to help Real this year..

though dont be surpised if some Milan player is sent off against Barca for no apparent reason

For our CM's, I would drop Westwood and go with El Ahmadi - he's fairly skilful and intelligent and Holman - who can score occasionally and works hard. Those two would make a reasonable fit with Gabby and N'Zog in a 4-4-2.

therein lies the main problem, our midfield very rarely score goals and very rarely create chances for our frontmen, and, if you're not scoring it puts more pressure on the defence to keep a clean sheet. Many times this season i have seen the opposition get the ball in our half and our midfield not tracking back picking players up.
If players cant get the basics right at this standard they will soon be found out.
IMO, the midfield has been our major problem all season.

Am mainly looking at how we have played as a team and who we have played against compared to the qualities of QPR and Reading.

Looking at our last game - I doubt QPR or Reading would have been able to contain our strikers quite so effectively as Man City. It's not for nothing that their defence is the best in the league - I was really impressed, anyway.

QPR's goal threat is nothing to write home about and seeing as the defence is the weakest part of our team, then that augurs well for us.

Reading are poor all around with only a few exceptions. As long as we look out for Le Fondre we should be ok.

With a front line of Gabby / N'Zog / Weimann (or Bent) / Benteke - we should be too much for both of them.

Our last 4 games, we've played as well as we've played all season. If we carry on, I can see us nicking a few results and staying up.

While I agree KEA looked tidy against Man City, I have my reservations about him in a game of this importance.
From what i have seen of him this season he bottles 50-50 challenges, and with both teams scrapping for their lives there will be plenty of these flying about.
Not sure if we have any options but, if we have we need someone in there who is not afraid to put theirselves about.

muz - I hope so too. Agree about KEA, looks a bit lightweight. I think he'd nick it for me purely because Westwood (and Delph) isn't that great at knowing when to play the strikers through. It was getting a bit embarrassing against Man C, all of our strikers got pissed off about it at various points in the game.

pitbull inferno I hope PL is not as complacent about Loic Remy as you are. Jay Bothroyd if he plays and Bobby Zamora too, any of these will give our defence the run around and thats before the likes of Taarabts in midfield QPR worry me greatly.

QPR and 'Arry have put the club on the edge if the do not stay up they could well go bust according to what I have read this morning, and there were those who think 'Arry would be good for us? QPR to become the new Portsmouth and the common denominator is?

Against QPR we will need to stop Taarabts and I question who we have who is capable? Sylla needed game time Arsenal and Man City games we would probably not expect (if we are honest) to win may have been the ideal games to have played him in, I think it is too risky to play him from the start against Reading or QPR these games are just too big and important.

Guest - expat007

I hope I have not missed the point. What I am trying to emphasize is the fanatical criticism of today’s fans of other Clubs, Players and Managers by too many fans of all Clubs, not just the Villa.

You mention teams of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and that is my point. Over the years fans have been lest appreciative of the football and no longer can see any good other than in their own Club. Then when your Club has little to offer as in the Villa case, we tend to take it out more on the opposition to try to compensate for our Clubs shortcomings.

In the old days we were far more tolerant. I could no doubt post this on any Premiership Club’s Blog site. Its not just Man U that get the hate mail, the number on here that dislike, that’s being kind all London Teams, the Cockney Ba*tards. Too many cant stand the Scousers, they make every excuse to show that Newcastle support is not that good because there a one City team even though the population is a quarter of Brum. I could go on.

It is the continual abuse that I cant understand. it’s ‘The three wise monkeys’ in reverse "see no good, hear no good, speak no good".

There may be many causes of this intolerance. No longer can most football supporters afford to go to visit other teams matches, in the early seventies it was the cost of a pint now its an arm and a leg. TV coverage now picks up everything, managers are exposed and now forced to be interview immediately after the match when their emotions are still not under control. A good example of that was they stopped Fergie from being interview after the Real Madrid match as they knew his, shall we say enthusiasm might get the better of him and he would be banded for every more!!! That would suit some on here. One of the reasons I liked John Gregory was 'Wore his heart on his sleeve' and spent much of his time at the Villa in the Directors Box.

If you have got this far, that’s the end of the sermon, no offence meant and trust none taken.

Football today uses sports science to the degree where players have every part of their make up monitored in pursuit of the perfect specimen, how far they run, heart rate, etc etc. We can no longer compare players from different era's and also players themselves today choose a club on the basis of what they will earn and it's geographical location, something that did not really come into play until recently.

just to pick you up on that expat.Did they stop Fergie being inteviewed? Why are they going to charge the club then for him not speaking or letting his players speak which you are legally obliged to in the CL? Not calling you out but im interested.

Guest - expat007

mintvillaT

heres lots to say about the Villa, just goes to you show you what a glory supporting troll you are.

I certainly don’t always agree with jonnah, but that a bit over the top, everyone on here has the right to present his views.
As to the Glory Supporting, put me down for some of that as it gives me no pleasure in The Villa being nearly down and out.

Guest - expat007

mintvilla

quite simply I would play a 4-3-3 against Reading.

No problem at all with that and it would be interesting to see this line up.
Guzan
Lowton; Vlaar; Clarke; Baker.
Westwood; Ahmadi; N’Zogbia.
Gabby; Bent; Benteke.
Bench: Given; Lichaj; Ireland(Sylla); Weimann; A.N. Other.
Could be SH1T OR BUST!!! But we must score and win, nothing else is acceptable.

Guest - expat007

sjh It would appear that they thought that the Club being put on charge was the lesser of two evils as Fregie was on fire and they did not know how to put him out. Also if you saw the players reaction after the final whistle and they could not be trusted either. Although they have tried to keep it under wraps it appears that some within the club could not keep their mouths shut!!
It would have been wonderful to have seen Fergie interview, how many shots would there have been on Utube:D:D:D:D

Guest - expat007

sjh
Sorry what I should have pointed out that it was put to Fergie that he should not be interview because of his past record of his after Rafael da Silva's dismissal in United's quarter final defeat, three years ago.
It would appear that reluctantly he agreed as it would be a repeat offence. They will still get wracked, but they must hope not as bad as him fouling mouthing off at the ref!! Again I would have love to have seen it.

Guest - DC_Villan

News that Ajax is looking to ship Christian Eriksen off to a PL team this summer. Rumours are that Liverpool and Spurs are the main parties interested. What I don't understand is that they have so many players that occupy the same type of position i.e. Holtby, Siggurdson, Dembele, Dempsey, and even Bale sometimes now too with T'ham and Liverpool just bought Coutinho for the exact same role.

Eriksen will have only one year left on his contract this summer and is the exact type of creative player we could desperately use right now (Ireland is done, and even though N'zog is doing better as of late he still sorely lacks the vision that we need to utilize the likes of Benteke, Bent, and Weimann). Imagine 4 years ago when we actually could have competed to sign a player like this... We ****ed up the transfer for Dempsey last summer because he didn't want to play for us, then in the January window we ****ed up the deal for Coutinho.

It hurts to think that this is what our club has come to... Signing unknown MLS and second tier french league players that get us nowhere.

Guest - DC_Villan

Also, I think we need to keep running with the same formation, we have been playing some decent football recently and our last two games were against the likes of Arsenal and Man C. The only adjustments would be ideally Vlaar in at CB if he's fit and move Baker out to LB, and then El Ahmadi in for Delph. Sylla will probably need to be used as a sub in the next two games so I hope he's up for the challenge (he better be after we dropped 2 mil on him). Anyone know where the little hobbit Bannan has been lately? He might have to see some minutes as well unfortunately. Clarke has obviously been very dodgy lately so I wouldn't mind resting him a game and keeping Bennett in the line up. The last two games were the best I've seen him play, although that is still not saying very much

Guest - expat007

DC_Villan

It hurts to think that this is what our club has come to... Signing unknown MLS and second tier french league players that get us nowhere.

I think you can give up on any thought of The Villa being interested in any transfer deals until the summer. Nothing is going to be decided until the fallout of this and the previous seasons has been sorted to the satisfaction of the owners, The Lerner Trust.
The permutations are so numerous as The Yank, The Fat Controller and Rab C will need to know the outcome of relegation battle, what players will be leaving, i.e. Benteke, Weismann, Bent etc., what is the wage bill of those contracted and still cant be disposed of and of course what league Villa will be in and what income is to be generated in that league.
As you so rightly say ‘It hurts to think that this is what our club has come to’ yes its fair to say we are totally fu*ked, up the creek, on the Titanic and in the sh one t.

Guest - expat007

DC_Villan

keeping Bennett in the line up. The last two games were the best I've seen him play, although that is still not saying very much

Bennett as a Left Back? That not his best position, that is ‘left back behind’ in the coach. Play Clarke at CB and Baker at LB, not good but better than having Bennett in defense!!! Bennett in defense is like having Dracula working in the Hospital Blood Bank!!!

Guest - muz1

When needs must we have to play our best players that will give us a fighting chance to stay up.

N'zogbia is coming into form which is a good thing. Now when Bent is back we play Bent and Benteke up front.

Weimann is a good player in the making BUT he is not the player that will get us out of the situation right here right now. We have to put the fear of god into the oppositions defence. Weimann is NOT the player to do this right here right now !

Everyone thinks Weimann is great, we need to look beyond Weimann for the 10 remaining games to pull us through. Bent comes back we play him, N'zogbia now back in form, and we terrorise the opposition defence.

I don't really know why I should be talking about this because Benteke and Weimann have scored goals but they cannot elevate us from our current position.
Weimann and Benteke has been going all season and we are in the bottom 3.
**** that, it's Bent and Benteke if we want to get out of this!!!

Think outside the box, it's not worked with Weimann and Benteke.

We play Bent and Benteke up front from now on.

Or are some still happy plodding along with Benteke and Weimann up front?

Bent back he plays with Benteke from now on!

Or do we just limp out of this league because some Villa fans including Lambert, love Weimann ?

Guest - expat007

jcv Where are you mate.
Its getting desperate on here. Just come in from the bar and decided to see what has been posted since I went for a drink or two and what do I find! Five (5) posters in well over three hours, this is the depth that we have sunk to.
Villa fans are so despondent that they can no longer bother to contribute! I have made the effort. Why! I haven’t got a fu*king clue maybe I thought it will help to get us motivated to inject a little enthusiasm before the Reading game.
I cant enthuse myself so why I think I can help other Villa fans to have a feel good feelings, God only knows. I try desperately to be confident that the Villa will turn over Reading, fu*king Reading not Man U, Man C, Chelsea, its Reading a nothing Club and I fear the result.

As someone posted earlier, what have Aston Villa come to, it’s the pits and it is very difficult to be passionate any longer following The Villa.

Still you, me and other long standing fans are cursed and whatever the outcome of the next two games and this season we will still be lumbered next season and the seasons after that. It’s a marriage without the option of divorce and we are committed and will go to the grave following The Villa.

Agreed lads, there is nothing that we can do with our defence, they will continue to ship goals as its proven all season.
The way to get out of it is to put more emphasis on our strikers to remove the pressure from the back line.

I think Bent is as good as gone mate, can't see him wanting to stay anyway as he hasn't really come out with anything suggesting he likes it at Villa.

We do need to get more goals though, it seems to be all about that final delivery and Gabby sprinting down the left wing isn't really doing it. What about if we were to move Bennett up to left mid and bring in Lichaj as a left back instead? Bennett looks like he can cross and attack pretty well but can't defend to save his life.

I can only look to Bent's last game. He came on, transformed the team and we scored two goals, in which he uplifted the team in the process against West Ham. It was the last game that we have won.

We have to change something, we cannot just go along as we are for the next 10 games, hoping and thinking that we can pull through. Lambert has plans and choices that he only can make.

The defence is not going to change and will continue to leak goals between now and the end of the season, as we have seen all season, there is nothing the team can do about it. So the strikers have to try and make up for the loss that our defence keeps making.

What we have to do is try and remove the pressure from the defence by putting more pressure on the oppositions defence.

Weimann is not the player that can achieve this. Darren Bent is.

We have 10 games left, and as we have seen this season it's obvious that how we play has not worked.

What can be any worse than playing Darren Bent from what we have seen this season ?

Darren Bent has not come out complaining about what has happened over the course of season, kept himself to himself. We cannot just sit still as we have seen from the last 15 games or so, we have to do something.

Darren Bent is a Villa player, and from what I have seen particularly in his last game against West Ham, he wants to play, we need to change tack.

Score more goals, make the opposition become more worried about playing Villa by playing Darren Bent, which will relieve pressure on our back four because it's clear the system or players that we are playing is not working, and has been a total failure moving through the season.

Do we just carry on as we are doing nothing ?

Why wouldn't we change the strike force. What have we achieved this season? We have not scored that many goals. Why not put at 20 goal a season striker back into the team knowing that the likes of N'Zogbia is playing better.

We have to do something, we cannot just carry on as we are!

Why should we not play Darren Bent, i'm still dumbfounded that a 20 goal a season player is not playing in a team that is 3rd from bottom of the league.

Not saying we shouldn't play Bent, just that I don't think Lambert will. He doesn't seem to be part of the "plan" for some reason which I can't quite understand myself! I just try not to care too much now as it p****s me off to no end and I don't like being in a bad mood, especially when none of my mates are Villa fans eh?

Guest - Bobby 6 Killer

Guest - Blitzballer

Paul Lambert will retain his job as Aston Villa manager next season, irrespective of whether or not the club stays in the Premier League.

The Scot has been assured that his position is safe by Villa's power-brokers ahead of two matches in the next eight days that will have a crucial bearing on the outcome of the club's season

Villa travel to Reading tomorrow and then host QPR as they look to kick-start a season that has only sporadically threatened to kick into life.

The club's supporters are experiencing their third flirtation with the drop in as many seasons with Lambert claiming just five victories in the league since taking over from Alex McLeish.

Despite a triumph at Manchester City in the early rounds of the Capital One Cup, humiliation followed after Villa were defeated by League Two Bradford City over two legs in the semi-final.

A further embarrassment in the FA Cup at Millwall also upset the club's support who have seen just three wins in 14 matches at Villa Park this season.

They are in the bottom three at present due to an inferior goal difference to Wigan Athletic. It will be the first time since 1987 that the club has dropped out of the top-flight, if Lambert fails to improve the current situation.

However, it appears that American owner Randy Lerner has little appetite for change, despite the financial impact that demotion would have on a club that only last week posted significant losses.

If we are going with Bent and Benteke then we need to play with width, N'Zogbia has to play one side but the left side is more of a problem Weimann is not a natural winger but Gabby looks totally unfit.

If we play with Bent and Benteke the whole team will be given a natural boost. Confidence will sweep through the team that has not been evident all season. Imagine if you're the opposition manager and just been given Villa's team sheet an hour before kick off and you see Darren Bent and Christian Benteke's names in the starting XI.

One report says that Readings 1st choice keeper Adam Federici is a doubt for tomorrow. Another report says that goalkeeper Alex McCarthy (shoulder) is still out injured. Perhaps they do not have a goalkeeper fit at all, and we can shoot into an empty net !

Guest - Granger

"Dion Dublin insists Aston Villa's players have to shoulder the full responsibility for an "absolutely woeful" season ahead of Saturday's relegation clash at Reading.

"Former Villa striker Dublin believes Villa boss Paul Lambert should have paired strikers Christian Benteke and the currently injured Darren Bent on a more regular basis."

But Dublin claimed: "I thought Villa might have played Benteke and Bent both up front but there is something gone on. We don't know what it is.

"Bent is a goal scorer, you can play him in the fourth division or Champions League and he will still score goals. Having both of them up front would have given Villa more of a chance of having a better position in the league and scoring more goals."

* See even Super Dion Dublin says that Bent and Benteke should be playing together more often.

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